David Wood

Bio: David Wood is an academic researcher from University of Nottingham. The author has contributed to research in topics: Hearing loss & Conversation. The author has an hindex of 30, co-authored 66 publications receiving 12324 citations.

The role of tutoring in problem solving

Abstract: THIS PAPER is concerned with the nature of the tutorial process; the means whereby an adult or \"expert\" helps somebody who is less adult or less expert. Though its aim is general, it is expressed in terms of a particular task: a tutor seeks to teach children aged 3, 4 and 5 yr to build a particular three-dimensional structure that requires a degree of skill that is initially beyond them. It is the usual type of tutoring situation in which one member \"knows the answer\" and the other does not, rather like a \"practical\" in which only the instructor \"knows how\". The changing interaction of tutor and children provide our data. A great deal of early problem solving by the developing child is of this order. Although from the earliest months of life he is a \"natural\" problem solver in his own right (e.g. Bruner, 1973) it is often the ease that his efforts are assisted and fostered by others who are more skilful than he is (Kaye, 1970). Whether he is learning the procedures that constitute the skills of attending, communicating, manipulating objects, locomoting, or, indeed, a more effective problem solving procedure itself, there are usually others in attendance who help him on his way. Tutorial interactions are, in short, a crucial feature of infancy and childhood. Our species, moreover, appears to be the only one in which any \"intentional\" tutoring goes on (Bruner, 1972; Hinde, 1971). For although it is true that many of the higher primate species learn by observation of their elders (Hamburg, 1968; van Lawick-Goodall, 1968), there is no evidence that those elders do anything to instruct their charges in the performance of the skill in question. What distinguishes man as a species is not only his capacity for learning, but for teaching as well. It is the main aim of this paper to examine some of the major implications of this interactive, instructional relationship between the developing child and his elders for the study of skill acquisition and problem solving. The acquisition of skill in the human child can be fruitfully conceived as a hierarchical program in which component skills are combined into \"higher skills\" by appropriate orchestration to meet new, more complex task requirements (Bruner, 1973). The process is analogous to problem solving in which mastery of \"lower order\" or constituent problems in a sine qua non for success with a larger jjroblcm, each level influencing the other—as with reading where the deciphering of words makes possible the deciphering of sentences, and sentences then aid in the deciphering of particular words (F. Smith, 1971). Given persistent intention in the young learner, given a \"lexicon\" of constituent skills, the crucial task is often one of com-

A study of assisted problem‐solving

Abstract: This study examines the interactions between 12 mothers and their children in a problem-solving situation. Each child tries to assemble a construction toy, and his mother attempts to help him in such a way that he will eventually be able to do it alone. The paper introduces a system for describing the course of these interactions and it tests and confirms hypotheses relating to the underlying determinants of effective instruction. Those mothers who systematically changed their instructions on the basis of the child's response to earlier interventions (and the system of analysis enables such changes to be identified and related) were most likely to see their child perform effectively after instruction. They were also the most likely to determine and concentrate upon the child's ‘region of sensitivity to instruction’ — a hypothetical measure of the child's current task ability and his ‘readiness’ for different types of instruction. The study shows that effective instructing is a dynamic, interactive process somewhat akin to problem-solving. It elaborates the view that the process of intellectual development must be viewed as a social, interactive one.

Vygotsky, Tutoring and Learning.

Abstract: This paper starts with a selective examination of research into individualised tutoring. We articulate theoretical and empirical evidence to support the conclusion that a set of common principles governs such tutoring. These principles apply to the provision of tutorial support for preschool aged children through to adult learners in a number of domains. In support of these claims, we bring together and relate research and theory from both face to‐face teaching and computer‐based tutoring situations. However, we also try to articulate some of the limits of our current knowledge. We suggest that the principles identified apply mainly to procedural learning in well‐structured domains. We examine the idea that other learning goals, such as the development of skills in self‐regulation, need to be derived from a different model of the learning process.

An Experimental Evaluation of Four Face-to-Face Teaching Strategies

Abstract: This study tests a number of predictions about the effectiveness of four different strategies for teaching three to four year old children how to master a difficult construction task. These strategies were derived from previous studies of mother-child and experimenter-child interactions in an assisted learning situation. One strategy the 'contingent approach' was based primarily on theoretical considerations and when used in earlier work as a basis for describing and evaluating maternal teaching it enabled us to predict how well children taught by their mothers would do with a task after instruction. The three other strategies are idealised versions of the teaching methods used by less successful mothers-as-teachers. On the basis of our analysis of effective instruction it is possible to predict how well children taught by these four different techniques by a trained instructor should perform after instruction.The present study largely confirms these predictions. In so doing, it strengthens the suppositio...

Learning by expanding: An activity-theoretical approach to developmental research

Abstract: 1. Introduction 2. The emergence of learning activity as a historical form of human learning 3. The zone of proximal development as the basic category of expansive research 4. The instruments of expansion 5. Toward an expansive methodology 6. Epilogue.

From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development

Abstract: How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.

Reciprocal Teaching of Comprehension-Fostering and Comprehension-Monitoring Activities

Abstract: Two instructional studies directed at the comprehension-fostering and comprehension-monitoring activities of seventh grade poor comprehenders are reported. The four study activities were summarizing (self-review), questioning, clarifying, and predicting. The training method was that of reciprocal teaching, where the tutor and students took turns leading a dialogue centered on pertinent features of the text. In Study 1, a comparison between the reciprocal teaching method and a second intervention modeled on typical classroom practice resulted in greater gains and maintenance over time for the reciprocal procedure. Reciprocal teaching, with an adult model guiding the student to interact with the text in more sophisticated ways, led to a significant improvement in the quality of the summaries and questions. It also led to sizable gains on criterion tests of comprehension, reliable maintenance over time, generalization to classroom comprehension tests, transfer to novel tasks that tapped the trained skills of...

Identity and Agency in Cultural Worlds

Abstract: Preface I. On the Shoulders of Bakhtin and Vygotsky 1. The Woman Who Climbed Up the House 2. A Practice Theory of Self and Identity II. Placing Identity and Agency 3. Figured Worlds 4. Personal Stories in Alcoholics Anonymous 5. How Figured Worlds of Romance Become Desire III. Power and Privilege 6. Positional Identities 7. The Sexual Auction Block IV. The Space of Authoring 8. Authoring Selves 9. Mental Disorder, Identity, and Professional Discourse 10. Authoring Oneself as a Woman in Nepal V. Making Worlds 11. Play Worlds, Liberatory Worlds, and Fantasy Resources 12. Making Alternate Worlds in Nepal 13. Identity in Practice Notes References Credits Index